I’m a California Voter for Obama

Dave Winer has started a campaign to have bloggers post “a virtual equivalent of one of those signs people put on their front lawns” in support of Barack Obama.

I won’t go into a lot of detail right now on why I think Obama is the best choice for our next president, but that is how I feel and I look forward to the opportunity to cast my vote on Tuesday.

Speaking of which, it is notable that I do get to vote in the California Democratic primary, as someone who is registered without a party affiliation. As it happens, “decline-to-state voters”—as we’re known here—are limited to voting in either the Democratic Party or the American Independent Party primaries; the Republican Party, Libertarian Party, Green Party and any other political parties registered in California do not allow decline-to-state voters to participate in their primaries.

There’s another catch: decline-to-state voters are given a nonpartisan ballot by default, unless they explicitly request a ballot for the specific party’s primary they wish to vote in. If you are also a California voter who is not registered with a party, and you want to vote in the Democratic primary (or, for some reason, the American Independent primary) be sure to request a Democratic ballot when you get to your polling place or you won’t get one.

And if you are a voter and blogger that supports Obama for president, join in the campaign!

Well, thanks a hell of a lot for the CRAP you have gotten us into now.
Please do us all a favor and next time there is an election, STAY HOME. YOU OBVIOUSLY DO NOT HAVE THE POWER OF LOGICAL REASONING OR COMMON SENSE.
I hope you are one of them without a job right now.
I guess you are really proud of the “change” so far, huh? We have take a giant step toward socialism and you can pat yourself of the back for that one.

I guess that now, a little more than two years after I wrote the post and just over a year since Obama took office, is a pretty good time for me to comment on how things are going with it.

Overall, I’m not terribly disappointed. I try to be pragmatic and I never expected Obama to be a miracle worker. I’m not sure how to feel about the situation with the health care debate. I have mixed feelings about the issue in general, but I’m frustrated by the fact that Congress is more interested in political gamesmanship and obstructionism than helping to provide any kind of improvement. I’m sure the president is frustrated too, but it might have been a little naive of him to expect otherwise. In the end, I think it may be an unnecessary and ultimately meaningless distraction at a time when we don’t need one.

Other than that, though, I think Obama’s judgement has been reasonable and that the country is in a pretty steady place, which is better than I can say for the last administration. Maybe I’m just getting cynical, but after the Bush years, all I really want out of a politician is someone who doesn’t massively screw things up. Making things better is hard work that takes a long time and requires overcoming a lot of obstacles in your way. Making things worse is easy—entropy is on your side.

Thanks for commenting, Mike! Sorry to hear that you’re frustrated with the outcome of the 2008 Democratic primaries. I’m not sure that the economy would have improved much faster with Hillary in office, but maybe she will get her chance in 2016.